METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT
PERSONALIZATION OVER TELEPHONE INTERFACE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
Description of the Related Art
1. Telephone Identifying Information
2. Examples of Telephone System Personalization
a. Personalization Generally
b. Building Personalized Content on the Web
c. Interactive Personalization
d. Locale Selection
e. Time Appropriate Information Presentation
f. Targeted Advertising
g. Voice Character
h. Purchase Recommendations
i. Voice Login
j. Initial Profile Generation from Database Lookups
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A. Introduction
B. Definitions
1. Telephone Identifying Information
2. User Profile
3. Topics and Content
4. Qualified
5. Locale
6. Voice Character
7. Demographic and Psychographic Profiles
C. System Overview
D. Telephone Driven Profile Building
E. Web Driven Profile Building
F. Profile Building Via Other Web Sites
G. Locale Based Personalization
H. Time/Date Based Personalization
I. Targeted Advertising
1. Based Solely on Telephone Identifying Information
2. Based on Profile
J. Adaptive Voice Character
K. Purchase Recommendations
L. Voice Login
M. Automatic Profile Initialization
N. Conclusion
CLAIMS
ABSTRACT
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of providing personalized content. In particular, the invention relates to technologies for identifying and registering users using telephone identifying information and personalizing the content presented to them using a profile selected using the telephone identifying information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following describes various techniques used in telephone systems to provide enhanced user features. First, telephone identifying information will be discussed. Many telephone systems that support enhanced user features use telephone identifying information as a basic component. Then, a variety of example systems will be discussed that use telephone identifying information to provide enhanced user features will be discussed.
1. Telephone Identifying Information
The advent of automatic number identification (ANI) and calling number identification (CNID, CLID, or CID) within the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) has supported the creation of a number of services that use these pieces of telephone identifying information. Comparable systems may be used in other numbering plans and countries to support similar services.
For example, when consumers receive credit cards in the mail, they have to call from their home telephone numbers to activate the cards. This is a typical use of ANI. In this instance, the credit card company matches the ANI information provided when the consumer calls to a previously provided telephone number. If the ANI matches the credit card company""s records, the credit card company activates the card.
2. Examples of Telephone System Personalization
a. Personalization Generally
With the advent of widely available real-time delivery of telephone identifying information such as ANI, a number of systems have been developed to use that information. One of the most common uses of ANI is for credit card activation. However, previous systems have been single purpose and typically require reference to other information provided separately. For example, credit card activation lines require separately provided information, e.g. your home phone number from the application.
b. Building Personalized Content on the Web
Some systems allow a user to build personalized content over the web. One example is the my Yahoo!(trademark) service provided by Yahoo! of Santa Clara, Calif. at  less than http://my.yahoo.com/ greater than . The personalized content pages developed on the web are delivered over the web to users accessing the pages with computers. These systems rely on a username and password type system to identify the user rather than telephone identifying information and the delivery mechanisms is different.
c. Interactive Personalization
Still other systems allow users to personalize the content without entering special editing modes. For example, Amazon.com, of Seattle, Wash., keeps track of your purchases and preferences using cookies stored on a customer""s web browser.
Some telephone systems provide limited customization capabilities. For example, voice mail systems from Octel, a division of Lucent Technologies, allow a user to set preferences for prompt length, but those settings must be made explicitly by each user. Further, customization is limited to a few options like prompt length and outgoing message selection. The user can not redefine the way the voice mail system works for her/him beyond those narrow customization options. Further, these customizations do not affect the kinds of content and further the presentation is not selected based on telephone identifying information.
d. Locale Selection
Services such as Amtrak""s 1-800-USA-RAIL reservation line use telephone identifying information to select an initial region. For example, if you call Amtrak""s reservation number in the Northeastern United States, the system presents options relating to the Boston-Washington line. However, if you call from California, the system presents information about travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
This can be accomplished by using the calling party""s area code and/or exchange included with the telephone identifying information to select a region. The area codes and/or exchanges can then be paired to different scripts or default selections. For example, the area codes for New York City, e.g. xe2x80x9c212xe2x80x9d, could be mapped to the Northeast Corridor while San Francisco, xe2x80x9c415xe2x80x9d, could be mapped to the San Francisco-Los Angeles line. However this does not change the kind of content presented and it is not user-selected.
e. Time Appropriate Information Presentation
Several services provide information through the telephone. That information may be adapted based on the time of day or date.
Some systems provide the information irrespective of the telephone identifying information. One example is Moviefone(trademark), 777-FILM in most locales. Moviefone(trademark) uses the current time at the called number to present appropriate information. The called number can be obtained using the dialed number identification service (DNIS). Thus, if you call Moviefone(trademark) in the San Francisco Bay Area at 10 o""clock in the morning, only movies starting after 10 o""clock in the morning in the San Francisco Bay Area will be presented to you. However, if you call the Philadelphia Moviefone(trademark), +1 (215) 222-FILM, from California, you will hear the Philadelphia movie times in Eastern Time. Thus, at 10 o""clock in the morning Pacific Time, a call to the Philadelphia Moviefone(trademark) will produce information for Philadelphia show times after one o""clock in the afternoon Eastern Time at Philadelphia area theatres.
f. Targeted Advertising
Some free long distance services provide customized advertising to support their services. One example is FreeWay(trademark) offered by Broadpoint, of Landover, Md.,  less than http://www.broadpoint.com/ greater than . These services require an explicit user registration process, typically using a computer to access a web site, to provide the service with a profile. Once the profile is provided, the advertising is targeted to the particular person""s explicitly provided demographic information. In some instances, the advertising may be targeted both based on the caller""s demographics and their location. Thus, callers from the San Francisco Bay Area with a particular explicit demographic profile may be presented one ad, while callers from outside the San Francisco Bay Area may be presented with another ad. Another, similar, service is offered on by phone by UAccess, Inc.,  less than http://www.uaccess.com/ greater than , by calling +1 (800) UACCESS, and provides consumers targeted advertising based on profile information they enter.
g. Voice Character
Most telephone systems have a small number of voice actors. Continuing with the example of Moviefone(trademark), one actor performs all of the menus and prompts. Other systems may use different voice actors for different subsystems.
These actors are typically selected on a system wide basis and as such, different voices, talents, speeds, characteristics, dialects, and other prosody aspects of the presentation are not user selectable.
h. Purchase Recommendations
Voice systems such as GALAXY from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass., have been adapted to provide information about purchasing decisions for used cars. For example, GALAXY has been used to allow for interactive browsing of automobile classified ads. These voice systems are problem domain specific. Further, the systems are designed to locate vehicles matching a particular set of criterion, rather than making actual recommendations.
Other systems are web based. For example, Amazon.com will make book suggestions for users connected to the web via a computer. However, those suggestions are limited to a particular site, e.g. Amazon.com.
i. Voice Login
Most telephone systems require a user to explicitly identify herself/himself by using a combination of a login identifier, e.g. credit card number, account number, etc., and a personal identification number (PIN). Some systems abbreviate this process by allowing a user calling from a particular phone to shortcut this process slightly. For example, callers using a phone number associated with a particular credit card might only be asked to enter the last four digits of their credit card number together with their billing zip code instead of all sixteen digits of the card number. Other products such as Nuance Verfier(trademark) from Nuance Communications, Menlo Park, Calif., support voice login capabilities, e.g. you just speak instead of entering a password.
j. Initial Profile Generation from Database Lookups
Most systems that provide information over the telephone require users to explicitly answer one or more questions in one form or another, e.g. over the phone, the web, and/or in written form. These questions form a demographic and/or psychographic profile for the user. All of these systems require the user to explicitly provide her/his profile information.
A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. The voice portal uses telephone identifying information to select, or create, a user profile to associate with a particular piece of the telephone identifying information.
The personalized content presented during a telephone call is specific to that user based on the profile associated with her/his telephone identifying information. For example, if a user, John, has previously called from the telephone number 650-493-####, he may have indicated he prefers a Southern dialect. Then, upon subsequent calls to the system from his telephone John will be greeted in a Southern dialect based on the profile associated with his number.
Example personalizations provided by embodiments of the invention will now be described. The system may personalize the session based on the time and/or date as determined from the telephone identifying information. For example, based on the local time for the calling party, time and/or date appropriate options may be presented. For example, if a user calls from California at noon, a restaurant for lunch may be suggested. However, a caller from London at that same moment might be presented evening entertainment selections because of the eight hour time difference.
The system may personalize the session based on the caller""s locale as determined from the telephone identifying information. For example, caller""s from Palo Alto, Calif. may hear different selections and options than callers from Washington, D.C. This may include locale specific events, e.g. a county fair, locale specific announcements, e.g. flood watch for Santa Clara County, etc.
The system may target advertising based on the caller""s demographic and/or psychographic profile. Additionally, the advertising may be targeted based on the telephone identifying information. For example, overall demographic information for a particular area code-exchange combination may be used, e.g. 650-493 corresponds to Palo Alto, Calif., with an average income of $X. On an international scale, this can be used to the extent that the particular numbering plan can be combined with relevant geographic/demographic/psychographic information about callers. Both types of targeted advertising allow the callers to be qualified, e.g. match the requirements of the advertiser. For example, a San Francisco jewelry store might only want to reach households in the Bay Area with an average household income exceeding $50,000 a year. The targeted advertising can ensure that callers presented with the ad are qualified.
The system may adapt the voice character, e.g. the speech patterns and dialect, of the system according to the caller""s telephone identifying information and/or the caller""s own voice character. Thus, for example, for callers who speak more slowly the system may reduce the speed at which the system speaks and/or increase the volume. This may be based on the telephone identifying information, e.g. hospital, an explicit request by the user, e.g. xe2x80x9cSlow downxe2x80x9d, and/or implicitly based on the caller""s speech patterns and interactions with the system.
Based on the caller""s profilexe2x80x94as retrieved through the telephone identifying informationxe2x80x94and/or demographic information from other sources, e.g. locale based and/or reverse phone directory lookup, the system can make purchasing suggestions. For example, close to a holiday like Mother""s day, the system may suggest a gift based on what other people in that locale, e.g. Palo Alto, are buying and or based on the user""s own purchasing history, e.g. she/he bought flowers last year. Similarly, the voice portal can recommend the purchase of an audio CD based on previous audio CD purchases.
The system may use a voice password and/or touch-tone login system when appropriate to distinguish the caller or verify the caller""s identity for specific activities.
These customizations may be combined in a variety of fashions. Thus, for example, the time, the locale, and a preferred dialect may be used to present a purchase recommendation.
Profiles can be constructed implicitly as the caller uses embodiments of the invention as well as through explicit designation of preferences. For example, the user might specify an existing personalized web site to use in building her/his profile for the voice system. Similarly, for a caller from New York who repeatedly asks for the weather in San Francisco, the system might automatically include the San Francisco weather in the standard weather report without explicit specification, or confirmation.
Additionally, new callers may have an initial profile generated based on one or more database lookups for demographic information based on their telephone identifying information.